Museu Militar de Lisboa

In Santa Apolónia, the Lisbon Military Museum is surprising because it is not only a museum of weapons: it is also a place where Portuguese military history meets art and the memory of the city. The institution began to take shape in 1842 and was created as the Artillery Museum in 1851, occupying a building linked to the former Royal Army Arsenal, rebuilt in the eighteenth century and later adapted for museum use. Its rooms, richly decorated with painting, carved wood and tilework, give the visit an unexpected solemnity, while collections of weapons, uniforms and military equipment live alongside painting and sculpture. Its collection of bronze artillery pieces is considered one of the most complete in the world. It is also worth lingering in the Plaster Room, where the mould of the statue of King José I in Praça do Comércio is kept. Here, war also appears as culture, image and representation.